


Monsters Together

by anindigoanon



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, BDSM, Biting, Bondage, Cunnilingus, Dom/sub, Dubious Consent, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Evil Grant Ward, Evil Skye, F/M, Hydra Grant Ward, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Past Child Abuse, Torture, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Villains, no redemption arc here folks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:28:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5444924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anindigoanon/pseuds/anindigoanon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ward had the decency to dislike the fact that he was coercively picking up a self-destructive girl with a history of abuse from a seedy club by pressing buttons he had read about in a file on her compiled from extensive illegal surveillance. He comforted himself with the fact that he wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for work."</p><p>What if Hydra had recruited Skye first?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Skye had arranged herself in what she felt was a fairly nonchalant way. She had her back to the wall, of course, and perhaps there was still nervousness visible in the set of her shoulders- but in the chaotic crowd and dim lighting she thought the subtle tells would be easily masked. And most people didn’t look for a youthful girl with a smartphone when searching for the person behind their computer systems crashing repeatedly from a sophisticated virus. Vaguely seedy fetish clubs were also not the first place government agents canvassed.

  
She still jumped when someone walked up to the entrance of her booth. Carefully rearranging her expression from shock into a disinterested scowl, she looked up from her phone to examine him. Skye liked to think that after all these years she had a pretty good eye for undercover cops, and this man did not strike her as one. He was tall enough that it was very apparent even when he was sitting down, and startlingly pretty. His face was more or less expressionless, but there was something in his bearing and the tension at the corner of his eyes that seemed like thinly veiled aggression. The hand that he rested on the table had scrapes across the knuckles and the faint greenish remains of a bruise decorated one prominent cheekbone.

  
“Buy you a drink?” He asked. His voice was deep and fairly pleasant, Skye noted. She mentally shrugged and tucked her phone into her pocket before placing both her elbows on the table, meeting her new companion’s gaze. She wouldn’t have minded going home alone, but she wouldn’t lie and say that she hadn’t gone to the club having single’s night deliberately. A distraction would be welcome.

  
“Sure.” She responded, with a very slight smile. He stood up to walk to the bar, and she followed him. It had been a long time since Skye was dumb enough to let someone make her a drink without watching what they put in it. Once the bartender had served them, the man picked up both of their drinks and headed back towards the tables without warning, forcing Skye to hurry after him. He took the chair against the wall before she could. Sitting with her back to the door and trying not to fidget, Skye felt distinctly off balance.

  
“What’s your name?” He asked her, picking up his drink and leaning back against the black leather upholstery.

  
“Sally.” Skye said, “And yours?” She reached forward to collect her own drink, but he caught her wrist before she could. Skye flinched, but he didn’t give any indication of noticing and his grip was as unyielding as steel.

  
“Aren’t you going to thank me first?” He said, calmly sipping his drink. Skye had no idea how he had moved that fast and managed not to spill it.

  
“Thank you so much for the drink, Mr. mysterious stranger, sir.” Skye said, raising her eyebrow and very carefully keeping her voice steady. “Now would it possibly be acceptable for me to drink it?”

  
After a moment, he released her.

  
“My name’s Grant Ward. Pleased to meet you, Sally.” His smile was knowing and frankly a little predatory. “It’s funny, though. You really don’t look like a Sally.” Skye was looking him in the eye again, but less to serve her own quest for seduction and more because she felt like she couldn’t look away. When she finally did manage to tear her gaze back to her lap, her hands were shaking so much that she spilled her drink when she tried to set it back on the table. Grant quickly handed her some napkins and when she glanced back up at his face he had an apologetic expression and a slight concerned wrinkle between his eyebrows.

  
“I’m sorry.” He said. “Did I push too hard?”

  
Skye brushed away his concern with a chuckle, sweeping her hair over her shoulder with one hand after dabbing up the spill.

  
“No, its okay. I’m just having kind of a stressful day, and I’m not used to the club scene these days. It’s been a long time since I’ve played with a stranger.” That was a lie, of course. Skye always played with strangers. They just usually weren’t nearly as good at pushing her buttons as Grant was, even if he was doing it mostly inadvertently.

  
“Oh, but you’re looking to scene with someone tonight?” He leaned towards her. Actually on second thought, Skye would describe it more as looming then leaning. “You want to give me your safeword?”

  
One of his hands covered hers, and two of his fingers traced delicately along her pulse point. Skye shivered.

  
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t scene in clubs. I’m not into an audience.”

  
“I’m not all that invested in staying here.” He told her. “Where are you staying?”

  
“None of your business.”

  
He withdrew his hand and tilted his head to the side, his facial expression suddenly blank and stony again.

  
“That was rude. I don’t appreciate rudeness. And I don’t think I want to keep talking to you unless I can correct you for being a brat.” The look he gave her as he stood up from the table was appraising. “I’m staying at a hotel. It’s only a few blocks away. Are you coming with me?”

  
Skye didn’t know him. He was clearly very capable of physically overpowering her and had just expressed his desire to punish her. It was an absolutely terrible idea to go off alone with him, and she felt fear and adrenaline twisting her stomach.

  
“Yes, sir.” She breathed, standing up.

  
“You want to tell me your safeword.” He repeated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ward didn’t like the club he followed Skye into. It had a vaguely dirty vibe and he didn’t really think it was safe for BDSM clubs to serve alcohol. His dislike was more firmly cemented by the fact that no one questioned him dragging a struggling Skye out the door by her bicep.

  
Despite the fact he was a professional killer, Ward had rules. Long ago he had realized that hating himself was as much of a weakness and hindrance to his efficacy as loving someone else was, and so had always put in effort to keep up some semblance of moral principles so he could bear his work.

  
Rule number one was no rape. Rule number two was no killing without reason. It used to be no killing unless absolutely necessary, but that proved to be impossible to uphold because Garrett sometimes wanted people dead for the sake of convenience, or just because he didn’t like them. So the bar for reasons was admittedly low, but Ward still felt a bad reason was significantly better then none. Rule number three was always pay your debts. Ward only had one debt and he intended to keep paying it until he died. Garrett knew about Ward’s principles, like everything else about him, and didn’t mind. He in fact preferred them immensely to the sadistic streak some of his other agents developed because that made them much more difficult to control.

  
“Are you killing civilian girls? Or beating them?” Garrett had asked him after finding out he had started seeking out fetish clubs in the cities they travelled through. “Because I know you boys need stress relief but that kind of criminal activity is going to come back and bite us in the ass.”

  
“No sir.” Grant had responded, looking somewhat disgusted.

  
“Are you having girls beat you?” His CO chuckled.

  
“No sir.”

  
“Then please explain to me, Grant, what the purpose of these little excursions is.”

  
There was no point in being dishonest with him. Garrett knew everything about Ward and if he tried to lie the consequences would be awful.

  
“Sometimes it’s nice to be in control and not hurt someone. Use my skills to make them vulnerable and then make a good change and not a bad one.” He shrugged. “Makes me feel less like a monster. Sir.”

  
“God, Grant, you’re such a puppy I could just kick you.” Garrett told him, laughing. “Fair enough. I know interrogation is a tough job and we all have our ways to cope. Keep being a pervert if it makes you happy. Just don’t go soft on me.”

  
“I won’t, sir.” Ward told him, dutifully not flinching as the man reached up and ruffled his hair. “Thank you, sir.” He added, as an afterthought. He did continue frequenting the clubs. Right up until last week when Garrett had approached him with a file on Skye and a big grin.

  
So, long story short, Ward had the decency to dislike the fact that he was coercively picking up a self-destructive girl with a history of abuse from a seedy club by pressing buttons he had read about in a file on her compiled from extensive illegal surveillance. He comforted himself with the fact that he wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for work, and that there were definitively much worse guys Skye could have picked to go home with. She could have gotten herself killed.

  
On the other hand, she was very pretty and very easy to read. It was hard for him not to smile about how clumsily endearing it was when she tried to lie to him about her name and her shaky hands. He took a certain kind of pleasure in nervous subs that had to be coaxed and gentled into feeling safe in his hands, and while he knew Skye usually didn’t go for a soft touch he was fairly confident he had her number and could talk her into mostly anything. This mission was going to be far from unpleasant- for both of them, he hoped.

  
Grant had released Skye well before they entered the hotel, and the two of them had ridden the elevator up to the fifth floor quite civilly and nonchalantly. As soon as the door to his room closed, however, she found herself pressed into the wall with her arm twisted behind her and Grant’s body warm and firm against her back. She struggled a little, mostly just to feel the fact that was trapped, and gasped at the hot stab of pain the movement sent through her shoulder.

  
“Easy.” Grant said, and his voice was soft even though his hold on her was unrelenting. “It won’t hurt if you don’t fight me.” His words made Skye feel warm and disconcertingly helpless. She blushed, and threw her elbow back into his stomach to make up for it. With a slightly exasperated sigh, Grant hooked her legs out from under her with one of his and dropped her on the ground, this time pinning both of her arms to her sides.

  
“You can’t win. I’ve got a hundred pounds and a decade of combat training on you.” He continued conversationally, ignoring the enraged noise Skye made into the carpet. “Besides, you don’t want to win. If you wanted to stop me, you’d safeword. You’re not fooling anyone by pretending to fight back, so why not just do what you really want to and surrender? I promise I’ll make it feel really good.” As one of his hands slipped under her shirt and brushed along her spine, Skye stilled.

  
“Good girl.” Grant said, shifting his weight off of her and helping her sit up. Once she was upright, he wrapped one big hand around the back of her neck and caught her chin with the other, forcing her to meet his eyes. Skye’s heart was hammering and the feeling she had in her stomach reminded her of going over the first big drop on a roller coaster. Her pupils were blown and her face was darkly flushed. The smile Grant gave her was far gentler and felt more sincere then any of the prior ones.

  
“Good girl.” He repeated as he lifted her effortlessly into a bridal carry and deposited her on the bed, where Skye gratefully remained to stare at the ceiling and try to compose herself as Grant rummaged around in the suitcase against the far wall. He came back with a coil of bondage cord and had it wrapped twice around her wrists before Skye tried to yank them away. It worked about as well as could be expected. Grant glanced at her disapprovingly.

  
“Sally. What is your safeword?”

  
“Hardware.” Skye answered, slightly sheepish.

  
“For the last time.” Her wrists were attached securely to the headboard. “You can safeword. You can do what I want you to. Or you can get punished for being a brat.” He backhanded her across the face- it wasn’t hard enough to even sting badly but it startled Skye into silence as Grant deftly undid the buttons on her shirt and yanked off her leggings and underwear at once. She stared down at him with wide eyes as he tied her right ankle and then her left ankle loosely to the foot of the bed, but politely didn’t start squirming to test the ties until after he sat back up. Smiling again, he took her left foot and gently dragged a fingernail up the sole. Skye squeaked in alarm and tried to curl her legs in to her stomach, only to be halted by the ropes. Obligingly, Grant rubbed the foot firmly with his thumbs for a moment to sooth away the tickling.

  
“See?” he said, “I’ve got you. No need to wiggle around to make sure.” Dragging a hand up the outside of her thigh, he moved to kneel between her forcibly spread legs. “Don’t move.”

  
Skye whimpered.

  
“That was an order. How do you respond to orders?”

  
“Yes sir?” Skye tried, any desire to resist now forgotten as his fingers traced gently across her clit.

  
“Good girl.” Grant told her warmly as he bent down to kiss a line down her hip. She keened, high and desperate, as he dragged the flat of his tongue along her entrance and then slid two fingers inside her. It didn’t take long before the muscles of her thighs were trembling with the effort of staying still and the end of every breath was a moan. He was talented, Skye thought to herself distantly as she shifted her white-knuckled grip on the headboard. Grant lifted his head and immediately caught her eyes.

  
“You’re not going to come until I tell you to.” He told her, and she marveled at how good he was at putting the feeling of a command in his voice without shouting or seeming angry. He just expected to be obeyed. And he kept looking her steadily in the eye as he twisted his fingers and pressed his thumb firmly against her clit, making her yelp and give a full body tremor, her legs kicking ineffectually against the rope as she tried to wrap them around him and pull him closer.

  
“What did I ask you to do?” Grant questioned, withdrawing his hand. Skye tried to shift her hips to follow it until she realized what he was getting at and froze.

  
“Not to move.” She said quietly. Grant raised his eyebrows. “Not to move, sir.” Skye amended, embarrassed blush retuning to her cheeks. Her skin felt hot, every sensation was overwhelmingly intense, and she kind of wanted him to hit her again. She unrepentantly continued trying to wiggle closer to him.

  
“You can’t control yourself, can you?” He asked her. “That’s okay. I’ll help you.” Nonchalantly pinning her still with one hand on her stomach, he proceeded to return to using his mouth to drive her crazy. He infallibly pulled away every time she was right on the brink of climax, occasionally nipping the insides of her thighs while she wailed. At some point well after Skye had lost track of time, Grant crawled up her body and brushed one hand along her cheek while the other continued gently stroking inside her.

  
“Shhh.” He said, “Do you want to come?”

  
“Yes sir.” Skye responded. “Please, sir.”

  
“Go ahead.” He told her magnanimously, kissing her chastely while he roughly thumbed her clit again. Skye whined into his mouth, her whole body writhing with the force of her orgasm. Even after she went limp and her breathing settled, tremors lingered in her muscles. Grant soothed them by petting her in long, firm strokes. He untied her one limb at a time and massaged her wrists and ankles. Skye felt like she was floating, and while she usually didn’t believe in staying to cuddle with hookups she didn’t see herself moving right this instant. Besides, it felt too good to protest when Grant lay down too and gathered her into his arms so her back was pressed against his chest.

  
“Good girl.” He whispered into her ear, his hand stroking along her ribcage. “You were incredible. So good.”

 

“Holy shit. You’re r’ly good at that.” Skye told him honestly, settling more closely against him. She suddenly tensed. “Oh my god. You’re still hard- crap, I’m so inconsiderate. You gave me head for like an hour and I forgot about you.”

 

Grant laughed. It was open and genuine.

 

“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine. You gave me plenty tonight.” He propped himself up on his elbow momentarily so she could see his smirk. “And besides, you’ll make it up to me next time.”

 

Skye decided not to comment on how little intention she had of there being a next time. It was kind of nice to pretend that she could keep seeing Grant. In her daydream he called her Skye, not Sally, and she sighed. The very idea made her stomach turn a little with fear and also made her chest ache with desire. Wow, Skye thought to herself, you are really hopped up on endorphins and hormones right now. You want to elope with this sadistic bastard you met three hours ago. Get up and put your clothes on.

 

Grant’s phone ruined the moment before Skye got a chance. Grumbling, he reached over her to retrieve it from the bedside. The person on the other end of the line was talking animatedly, maybe even shouting, but Skye couldn’t quite make out their words.

 

“Yes.” Grant answered an unknown question brusquely. “It’s fine. I’ll do my job and I’m assuming you can do yours?” He sighed. “Not right this instant. I’m doing my best, if you have doubts on that you can call Garrett. Well, I’m busy too. Yes. Goodbye.” He hung up the phone while the other person was still speaking, and chuckled.

  
“That was you, wasn’t it?” He asked Skye.

  
“What?”

  
“It was you that crashed all their computers and nearly gave that techie an aneurysm.”

  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Skye said. The fear in her voice was obvious.

  
Grant wrapped an arm around her neck before she could make a break for the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we have lots of plot, and lots of Ward being a big bag of dicks. Honestly those two things are what define this story for me, lol. And FYI, nobody should get their hopes up for a new chapter every day, this time is due to pure coincidence (and me not having to go to work today.)

“Don’t be modest, Skye. You’re not in trouble. Well, no more then usual.” Grant told her. “How many times have you had an undercover cop have sex with you before arresting you? I’m not a cop. And I don’t work for S.H.I.E.L.D. I work for another group, and I think we have the same interests as you. I came to find you to make you a sort of job offer, not to arrest you.” Skye was very still and silent.

“I tell you what, stay the night and we’ll talk about it in the morning. If you hear me out and still want to run away, you can walk right out that door and I won’t follow you.” 

“I can hear you out now.” She said, and her voice was angry and bitter. “Let go of me.”

“I guess it might have sounded like I was negotiating with you. I wasn’t.” He yawned. “Go to sleep. If you’re not here in the morning I’ll find you again. It won’t make any difference really, except I don’t like hide and seek and I will not be in a good mood the next time you see me.” To emphasize his words he tightened his arm until Skye was gasping for air, just for a moment, and then released her. Every muscle in her body was tense, and he considered trying to calm her down but decided against it. Talking her into joining HYDRA would probably require her to be a little exhausted and distressed. There would be time to try and win her trust back in the morning. 

Staring off into the dimly lit room, Skye felt like she should be able to relax at least a little more as Grant rolled away from her. But as his breathing slowly deepened, she remained silent and absolutely still. She was struggling to take a full breath. The urge to curl into a ball or cry during a panic attack had long since been trained out of Skye in the orphanage and various foster homes- moving or making noise held the threat of More Trouble, and Skye didn’t want to be punished. Miles had laughed at her about what he called her ‘deer in the headlights reflex,’ once. They had been working in a café. The cops had come in, looked around, got some coffee, and left. That had been early on- really the first time Skye had been threatened with an arrest more serious then a slap on the wrist for petty theft. She was staring, frozen, into the middle distance.

“You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Miles told her, chuckling. “Relax, they’re gone.” 

She heard him distantly, as if her head was submerged in rushing water. To his credit, he stopped laughing very quickly.

“Skye? Are you alright?” He reached across the table to put his hand on her shoulder. The second he made contact, Skye scrambled away from him into the corner of the booth, whimpering apologies and dismayed at the fact that now that she had started moving, she couldn’t stop shaking. She was in trouble. 

“Hey.” Miles said gently, moving around the table and sitting a respectful foot away from her while still blocking her from the view of the counter. “Skye, it’s okay. No one is going to hurt you. Can you look at me? Please?” 

Skye looked at him.

“Good. Thank you. Now can you take a deep breath with me? In…Out. Good. A few more times.” He counted off five more breaths. Skye did as she was told, which helped. Punishments were always less severe if you cooperated. By the end of the breaths, she was shaking more but she felt much more present and her heart rate had slowed. 

“Can I touch you?” Miles asked her, “I only want to if it will help.” 

Skye nodded and settled quickly into his open arms, pushing her face into his shoulder. 

“M’sorry.” She told him a few seconds later, slightly ashamed that she was expressing the sentiment while still cuddling her partner in crime but unable to force herself away.

“Oh, don’t be sorry.” Miles said, “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry if I did anything that made it worse, and that I laughed at you. Next time I’ll know what’s going on.”

Pulling back enough that he could see her face, Skye fixed him with a look of absolute bafflement. 

“You’re apologizing? You were so nice. And I was being stupid.”

“It’s not stupid. You’re a child of the system. It hurt you. And that’s what we’re fighting against. Me helping with your panic attacks is fighting back. I’ll admit it’s on a pretty small scale but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. Especially because we aren’t going to get that far if you can’t keep your cool near cops.” He petted her hair and hugged her close again. “I’ve got you. And things are going to get better.”

Skye really missed Miles sometimes. She felt like as a freedom fighter and strong advocate of people’s right to free will, she shouldn’t crave having him in charge as much as she did. But whether she wanted it to be or not, having an allegiance to Miles was much easier then trying to follow the abstract principles of the Rising Tide by herself. 

Also, if she had been with Miles, she wouldn’t have followed a stranger back to his hotel and played into the hands of whatever shady agency Grant intended to recruit her to. She was an idiot, and she meditated on this fact while staring off into the darkness all night, even after she felt like she could breathe again.

At some point in the very early morning, Grant hadn’t moved for hours and Skye contemplated making an attempt at escape. He was definitely asleep, but she didn’t have any illusions about her ability to successfully smother him with a pillow. And while he almost definitely had some weapons in the room, she wouldn’t be able to rummage around and find them without waking him. 

Then just leave, she thought to herself. You’ve been on the run before- you’re basically always varying degrees of on the run. But when she tried to move her legs to start sliding off of the bed, her muscles locked involuntarily and another surge of panic washed through her. It was always worse when you tried to run away. It’s better to just cooperate, a littler voice in the back of her head told her. It was accompanied by a childish certainty that overrode any faith she had in her ability to evade capture. 

So Skye stayed, and didn’t sleep, and was disgusted with herself. 

In the morning, Grant woke, stretched, and got out of bed silently. He handed Skye her pants off the floor and headed over to the bathroom. It was a little irritating how little he expected her to make a run for it. She felt the urge to tell him that she was a brilliant career criminal and he was terrible at his job for so thoroughly underestimating her. But, mostly, she was humiliated that he was right and there was no chance of her making a daring escape. 

“Go clean up and then we’ll talk.” He said when he reemerged, and then with a slight smile, “I’m glad you’re still here.” 

It made Skye feel a little safer to do what he said, and she tried to ignore that as she eyed herself in the mirror. There were dark flakey tracks of mascara on her cheeks, her hair was flattened on one side, and her shirt was still open. She figured if she was going to federal prison for the rest of her life she might as well look vaguely put together while doing so, and started removing her makeup with a wad of toilet paper. 

When she exited the bathroom Grant was sitting calmly in one of the two armchairs in the corner of the room, with his feet up on the coffee table. Skye sat down across from him, maintaining her composure and looking him in the eye. 

“You’re acting like I’m going to interrogate you.” Grant said after a moment of silence, “You ask the questions.”

“Who do you work for?” Skye asked, saying more or less the first thing that popped into her head.

“I work for an organization called Hydra. But I am in deep cover at S.H.I.E.L.D. So is my CO and many of our other agents.”

“So you work for S.H.I.E.L.D, the shady organization that has been trying to abduct me for years, but I’m not supposed to worry about it because you don’t really work for them you’re some sort of ridiculous spy movie double agent.” She snapped, a little surprised at her anger. “So believable. What kind of bizarre power trip are you on? Just fucking arrest me and stop trying to trick me.”

“You’re right. I would be the world’s shittiest S.H.I.E.LD agent for catching you, giving you all night unsupervised to escape, and then trying to trick you into being willingly arrested when you’re already trapped.” He shrugged. “It makes no sense. The only reasonable explanation is that I’m not a S.H.I.E.L.D agent.”

He did have a point. Even if he was lying why have an argument when she could try to extract some more information from him?

“Fine. I’ll buy it for the moment. What is Hydra? Do you guys have a mission statement, a nonprofit charter I could look over, maybe?” 

“Well, S.H.I.E.L.D’s natural enemy, for starters. The US government can’t be trusted with our freedom. Hydra is working to take it back. We share a similar outlook, Skye, that’s why I found you. Your talents would be very useful to us.” He leaned forward, setting his elbows on the table. “And what’s in it for you? Well, we know you’ve been on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D for months, and its impeding your ability to work as well as putting you at great risk. Work for us, and they won’t be able to touch you. Not to mention you’ll be better funded then you’ve ever been.”

“Listen.” He continued, “You come with me to scope out the position and I can promise you will be free to go at any point. And to be frank, you’ve figured out by now that we know you, we know how to find you, and you can’t possibly think you’d be any safer from me out on the run then you would be if you accept.”

“Is fucking you included in the job description? Do I at least get a raise for that?” Skye snapped. 

“No, of course not.” Grant frowned at her. “This is a job offer. Any other aspects our relationship could have are entirely separate. If it would make you more comfortable, someone else can be your S.O.” He shrugged rather sheepishly. “Not that I would argue, if you wanted to fuck me.”

“This is completely bizarre.” Skye said, enraged. “How can you expect me to trust you? I’m just supposed to sign my soul away to some shady secretive government organization after spending my whole career fighting against shady secretive government organizations? Gosh, what a convincing argument.” 

“If you accept my offer, we’ll go to a S.H.I.E.L.D base in Colorado for you to meet some higher-ups and get a full description of your job, as well as some sensitive information about Hydra I can’t discuss here. I can show you the base on the map, if that will help. You can call someone and tell them where you’re going.” Grant knew that she didn’t have anyone she would call, but he focused on meeting her eyes earnestly as he made the offer. “Look, Skye, you’ve been existing and operating entirely on your own, and you can do that because you’re incredibly gifted, but you won’t be able to do it forever. Let me get you a safety net.”

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Grant sat back and looked away to take the pressure off. He wanted her to feel cornered enough to justify giving in to his offer, but not so threatened that she lashed out. It was a delicate balance, and he fidgeted his hands slightly to make his body language less threatening. 

It turned out to be largely unnecessary, though, because even as did it he saw her purse her lips and slump her shoulders ever so slightly- her decision was clearly made. 

In a frankly very unnecessarily secret-agent-y shiny black car with tinted windows, Grant drove her back to her van to collect her things. She hadn’t told him where she had parked it. 

“What do you want to do with the van?” Grant asked her. “I can have someone pick it up and move it to a garage we use, or you can put it somewhere yourself if you prefer.” He shrugged. “Or you can leave it here, but the parking ticket costs might end up pretty unmanageable and I don’t know if that’ll count as a work expense.”

“I’ll move it myself.” Skye said, and Grant rummaged in the glove compartment to hand her a burner phone. “Ok. Call me when you’re ready.”

It felt a little surreal to drive calmly away from her kidnapper, but Skye really wasn’t complaining. Besides, she was mostly preoccupied by how he could possibly expect her to call him to come kidnap her again. Glancing into her rearview mirror at the first stoplight, she sighed in relief at the black car’s conspicuous absence. Whatever spell had kept her following his orders that morning was broken now, when she was alone and already felt the whole thing fading into a bad memory. 

They had admittedly found her once, but she would be much more careful this time. After all, she hadn’t had any idea her pursuers knew her name and face before. 

Within an inconspicuous five miles of the speed limit, Skye headed towards the Texas border. She made a call on her own burner phone to put in an order for a fake ID, and turned on the radio. 

The middle-of-nowhere motel Skye stopped at around midnight was totally unfeasible for anyone to be conducting surveillance on. There was one CCTV camera pointed out at the parking lot, but it was easy enough to stay out of its view. She went into her room and turned on the desk light as a diversionary tactic before setting a sensor to alert her if the door was opened and going back to her van. She pulled it around the back of the building, out of sight of the road, and prepared to catch a few hours sleep on the camp bed in the back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ward had gotten someone to tail her, obviously. In fact, several people using a new car every fifty miles or so. But if he could manage to trick her into thinking Hydra had some kind of magical omnipresent surveillance system, then he would happily do so. So he pulled into the parking lot of the hotel at one in the morning, dismissed the agent that was keeping an eye on Skye, and then settled in to wait for a while. For realism.

At around three, he started banging on the side of the van. Skye startled awake and fell off of her camp bed, rummaging for the knife she kept on the shelf nearby and flicking it open. 

“Get out here, Skye.” Grant called. “Get out here right now and I won’t break your window.” 

Clutching the knife, Skye considered her options. He was on the passenger side, by the door to the cab. Maybe, if she took off out the back door she could take him by surprise and escape? But where was she going to go out here. She was nearly certain the check-in office was closed. So I’m going to fight him, she thought. And it’s either wait for him to break in here or try to get the jump on him. 

Skye burst out the back door of the van with a loud crash, and Grant had turned to face her before she made the first swing with the knife. In a blur of motion she could barely follow, Grant intercepted her swing and used her momentum to slam her into the side of the van. Skye’s face collided with the metal and her vision went white for a moment. There was a shrill ringing in her ears and she could feel blood running from her nose. Grant bent her first two fingers of her knife hand back, making Skye yelp in pain. The knife clattered to the pavement. 

Grant ground her face into the side of the van a little harder and leaned in close to her ear.

“Good try, I guess.” He hissed. “But you didn’t get away and now you’ve wasted my time- and I am not happy.” 

Adrenaline and panic were driving Skye’s heart rate through the roof. She was dizzy, and when Grant released her she swayed briefly and then collapsed to the ground. Or would have, if he hadn’t caught her an instant before her knees hit the asphalt. Her head still cracked against the van again, though. 

Skye didn’t want Grant to be touching her. What she wanted was to make a break for it, and she barely cared that she’d have to travel on foot through twenty miles of desert. She could barely breathe though, her vision was swimming, and she felt nauseous. Maybe she had a concussion- she wouldn’t know, but it seemed reasonable that this is what one would feel like. 

Ward was a little disappointed in how easy it was to get Skye to break down like this. Was she crying? Christ. He pursed his lips and quickly started talking himself down- you pressed a bunch of advantages to get her to break down and she did. Ward thought. Its what you were going for. Now you’ve got to be nice. Doesn’t matter that she has to get trained out of this to be a field agent, doesn’t matter that you want to hit her again. Be nice. 

He kicked the knife out of Skye’s reach, just to be safe, and kneeled down next to her. The aggression was already draining out of his system. He took a deep breath and relaxed the rest of the way. 

“Hey, calm down, Skye.” He said. “Take deep breaths- four seconds in, four seconds out. With me. Come on.”

Any thoughts of resistance long eclipsed by the all-consuming panic, Skye struggled to do as she was told. She stared down at her lap, and Grant’s hand that was resting on her knee. It was probably meant to be reassuring. There was a smear of her blood on his forearm.

When her breathing slowed down and the small, choked sobs stopped, Grant stood, plucking the van keys out of her pocket and collecting the knife. Skye flinched when he reached out a hand to help her up. Leaning against the van for support, she stiffly clambered to her feet by herself. 

“Hey, you have a room, right?” He asked. “Let’s go. You can get cleaned up, and we can make sure you don’t have a concussion.” He shrugged. “I’d apologize, for that, but I think instead I’ll just recommend you don’t attack me with a knife again.”

He turned to walk towards the motel doors without so much as a backwards glance- again, the arrogant bastard just expected her to do what he said. After a moment’s consideration, Skye realized that she did have to do what he said, unless she fancied her chances paying manhunt with an angry action movie villain in the desert in the dark. Grimacing in frustration, she followed him. 

“I’m free to leave at any time, huh?” She asked Grant sarcastically as she disarmed the alarm she had left on the door of the room. “I don’t feel particularly free right now.”

“You know too much about Hydra, and besides S.H.I.E.L.D is hot on your trail. This is for your own good, so they don’t catch you. Also for our own good so you don’t get caught by them and start telling them things they shouldn’t know.” He raised his eyebrows. “I was going to give you an illusion of free will, though. I was trying to be nice. But here we are, and the fact of the matter is that it’s my job to get you to Colorado and I’m good at my job. So you’re stuck with me.”

“So I’m your hostage, you mean.” Skye said, incredulous. 

“Well, hostage implies I’m asking something in exchange for your return. You’re my prisoner, maybe? Abductee?” He sighed. “Look. Whatever kind of unfortunate situation this is, I didn’t intend to hurt you and I’m not about to have you fall into a coma because you have an undiagnosed concussion. So if you could just come over here and let me have a look at you.” He had been walking slowly closer to Skye, hands up in a placating gesture. As he finished speaking, he reached out and grabbed her bicep.

“You don’t want me to go into a coma. Because it’s your job to keep the humans you’re trafficking alive and healthy.” She said, trying ineffectually to yank her arm out of his grip. 

“Sure. That. Whatever you say.” He told her as he shepherded her into the bathroom, first aid kit from his backpack in his other hand. 

He sat her on the counter and rummaged in the bag for a moment before returning with a penlight. Skye shifted nervously- he was uncomfortably close, standing between her knees. 

“Relax, I know what I’m doing.” Grant said, shining the penlight into each of her eyes briefly. “And… looks fine.” He gently felt along the bridge of her nose, in case it was broken, before starting to dab the blood off with a washcloth.

“I can do that myself.” Skye said. “Get out.” 

“Oh, I know you can. It’s my fault, though. Let me.” His other hand carefully tipped her chin up while he cleaned her split lip. Not brave enough to ask again, Skye sat still. His expression was focused, lips slightly pursed from concentration. His hands were gentle. When he was finished, he stepped back and let her slide off of the sink. 

“Do you want to take a shower or something?” He asked. “I’ll get your clothes from the van. We’re both going to sleep in here because I don’t feel like another ridiculous game of cat and mouse in the morning. I’ll sleep on the floor. But I’m taking the comforter.” 

“…Fine.” Skye said, sidling towards the corner of the room furthest from him. Grant left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. 

“If you lock it I’ll just unscrew the knob.” He called back as an afterthought. “It’s not hard, but it would be pretty goddamn irritating.”

Standing outside next to her van, Ward took out his phone and called Garrett. 

“Hey, how’s operation seduce the hacker going, Ward?” Garrett answered on the second ring. 

“She’s with me but I can’t say she’s particularly sold. Do you have any little Good Samaritan assignments between here and base? We can show up, I can blow away the bad guys, maybe save some innocent children, and then dramatically monologue about how Hydra is trying to change the world for the better.” Grant said. “She’s a hell of an idealist, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a combination of psychological issues that makes someone want to follow orders more. She’ll be loyal, and soon.”

“The Sith lord will have his apprentice, then.” Garrett responded. “Fantastic. And now that you mention it, I think I do have something for the two of you to do.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **EDIT** hey all, should anyone be intensely anticipating the next chapter of this, a) my computer is heckin broken and b) I am currently in Mexico and it ain't getting fixed here. So bear with me for another week-ish. Thanks! Ily!
> 
> aw, look at these kids playing nice. let me just say, you should probably enjoy it while it lasts, because it ain't gonna last forever.

“When you say we have an errand to run.” Skye asked over her cup of coffee in the car the next morning. “Does that mean we’re going to, like, assassinate someone? Cover up an alien crash site? Abduct some unsuspecting civilian and hold them without due process for the rest of their life?” She was making sarcastic quips, sure, but she knew there was nervousness in her voice, and that Grant was probably picking up on the way she had been watching him like a hawk all morning. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what kind of stunt she expected him to pull, but she certainly didn’t feel particularly safe.

“While those are all interesting guesses, no.” Grant answered. “It’s not- I can’t really tell you all the details. But suffice to say there’s a group doing illegal medical experiments on humans- well, sentient beings. We’re doing a raid, finally, after chasing them halfway around the globe and having half a dozen undercover agents tied up in it for months.” 

The building Grant pointed out was in a nondescript industrial district in Dallas. It was a looming brick warehouse, and all the windows were boarded shut. There was no sign of life at all, really, and Skye would have gone past the place without a second thought had she been on her own. 

“We’re going to wait until after the cavalry goes in.” Grant said. “We shouldn’t see combat, don’t worry. Come on.” He pulled the brim of his baseball cap low over his eyes and hurried from the parked car into what looked like a stripped office building. Behind a door off of the first long, dimly lit hallway were about fifteen people, milling around busily in black tactical gear. 

A few people looked up from what they were doing to nod at Grant. Skye stuck close to his side, nervous about the sheer number of guns being held by people she still considered more or less enemy soldiers. Across the room, there was an elaborate looking array of monitors being operated by a woman talking animatedly into a radio. Skye craned her neck to get a better view of the equipment, but was quickly distracted by Grant nudging her with something. It was a bulletproof vest. She put it on, fumbling a little with the straps. It did seem like she would need it.

“Alright, we’re here to observe and supervise, so we’re going in with the last team, probably. I have to go talk to the person in charge, stay right here.” He weaved his way through the crowd towards the monitor setup. Skye huddled against the wall, watching as he conferred with the woman on the radio. Technically, she could have made a break for it right then. But despite the fact it no one seemed to be paying much attention to her, there were just so many guns.

“Beta team, let’s move out!” Called someone. About half of the people in the room trotted briskly out into the hallway, some still chatting casually as they snapped the visors of their helmets down. The uniforms had little S.H.I.E.L.D insignias on the shoulders, Skye noticed. That’s right, she thought to herself. Not only was she suddenly starring in an over-the-top spy movie, she was the double agent. She had nearly forgot.

“Gamma team, get ready to move. Security systems are down.” The woman at the monitors said. “We’re just going to give them a minute…” 

Grant hurried back over to her as the rest of the agents gathered their things. Three of them were carrying bags with red crosses on them- medics, Skye assumed. 

“Alright, here we go. Stay close.” Grant told her quietly.

“This is insane. Why am I here?” Skye hissed as she followed him into the hall. They exited out the door on the opposite side from where they had come in, putting them in a small alley directly across from the target building. “I’m not goddamn 007. Have you been planning to get me killed this whole time?” 

“You’re not going to get killed.” Grant told her, sounding mildly amused. “Most likely nobody will, not even the bad guys. Like I said, just a quick errand.”

“Oh yeah, a quick errand. My god. I can’t believe this is real life.” Skye snapped. “Can I have a gun, at least?” They had stopped in the shadowy entrance of the alley. A few gunshots sounded inside the building. Grant glanced at her skeptically over his shoulder.

“You don’t know how to use a gun. You’d end up shooting yourself in the foot by accident. Or shooting me on purpose.” 

Before Skye could protest, they were jogging towards the front door of the building. Skye had never had this kind of adrenaline high before. She was so terrified for her life that it had basically circled back around to being calm again. Maybe this is what being in shock feels like, she thought distantly. 

The entryway of the building was a big, open room. There was a security booth on the back wall. It was empty, and the window had blood on it. The door beside it was wide open. In the next room, there were a dozen or so desks, and the signs of a struggle were far more apparent. There were scattered papers everywhere, a bookshelf was knocked over, and someone was lying on the ground next to a toppled chair. 

“Medics to the basement.” Shouted one of the others in their group. 

“Medics, with me.” Grant responded, and headed towards a different door. Skye had to run to keep up, but she stuck close to Grant’s elbow, nervously scanning her surroundings every few seconds. After a brief search, they found a stairwell in the back corner of the building. At the bottom, there was a big metal door with a keypad lock. Grant shot out the lock, and the door opened when he tried it again. Signaling the rest of them to stay put, he entered the room. A moment later he reappeared.

“All clear.” Grant said, and the medics dashed in past him. Skye followed a little more hesitantly, but froze in the doorway. 

The room was brightly lit with harsh fluorescents, and enormous. It took up the entire length and width of the warehouse. All four walls were lined with small glass cells. The medics were preoccupied at the far end of the room by what looked like bodies on gurneys. Before she could get a closer look at what they were doing, there was a loud knocking from right beside her, and she whipped around to find the source. The glass-walled cell next to the door was full of water, and there was a fairly humanoid creature in it. It had two legs and two arms- albeit with long, thin webbed fingers. Its long, dark hair undulated softly in the water behind it. Once it had Skye’s attention, it settled close to the glass and started making some elaborate pattern with its hands. Skye noticed with horror that there was a huge, fresh surgical scar down its chest held shut with staples. It looked almost like an autopsy incision. The creature tapped the glass again and repeated the hand movements. Sign language, Skye realized. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” She said. Reading her lips intently, the creature switched to drawing something on the glass with one finger. Skye quickly realized it was letters, and the second time through managed to follow them. 

“HELP?” The creature spelled. “HELP US.” And then it placed its palm against the glass. Barely hesitating, Skye placed her own hand over it.

“Yes, we’re here to help.” She said, nodding rapidly and hoping she wasn’t lying. It gave her a relieved smile, and its shark-like teeth barely ruined the effect at all. 

One of the medics had opened some of the cages, the ones whose occupants seemed to be in the best condition. The prisoners were helping each other, speaking urgently in several different languages. 

“We’re going to need a bigger team, some stretchers, and very specialized transport vehicles to finish this extraction.” One of the medics reported to Ward. “We may as well get the ones who can walk up to the jet first.” 

The aquatic creature had its face pressed against the glass, clearly trying to get a better look at what was going on. Skye stepped into the stairwell to get out of the way of the medics, who were herding a group of freed prisoners towards the door. 

“Skye, get down!” Ward suddenly shouted from across the room. She heard footsteps on the stairs behind her, and reflexively flattened herself against the wall. She heard gunshots from inside the room, and the two men in security uniforms that had been charging towards her collapsed to the ground, neat bullet holes between their eyes. 

“That wasn’t down.” Grant snapped as he ran up next to her. “Are you okay?” He was looking her over for injuries, his hands on her shoulders. Skye nodded mutely, still staring at the bodies. 

“Alright, we’ve got to get the extraction going. Stay close, this time. I’m serious. You could end up in worse situations than that.” His hand brushed briefly along the back of her neck, and he shot her one more concerned glance before heading up the stairs. Skye stayed no more then two steps behind him. There weren’t any other signs of trouble, and as they ascended more armed people in S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms joined their group. 

“The intel was really incomplete.” One of the medics said to Grant. “We weren’t prepared for the scope of that. And I had no idea that there would be someone aquatic. It’ll be hours before we can get, what, an aquarium truck? Do we even have an aquarium truck?” 

“The Agents running things here are very experienced with Inhumans. They can handle it.” He said. “You’re just going to have to pick out the ones with the worst injuries and radio in to transport those first. We’ll get them all out, though.” They had arrived at the trapdoor to the roof, and Grant shouldered it open. Skye climbed out and then offered a hand to help the man behind her, who was limping heavily and looked winded. He took it, and she managed not to flinch at the fact it was cold and his skin had the texture of snake scales. 

“Thanks.” The man mumbled. Skye was reasonably sure his tongue was forked. She stood close by Grant’s elbow, looking incredulously at the sleek black aircraft parked on the roof of the building.

“It’s a quinjet. S.H.I.E.L.D chic.” Grant said. “We’re not hitching a ride, though, these people aren’t headed to Colorado.”

“Where are they headed?” Skye asked. 

“Right now, to a S.H.I.E.L.D hospital. After that, I don’t know. Some of them were abducted from fairly normal existences; they can go back to that. Others, we end up supporting them for the rest of their lives. It really depends.” He shrugged. “Well, I think this is wrapping up. We can be on our way.”

“Wait.” Skye said. “Wait just a second. You take me to rescue a bunch of… aliens, I guess? From a super secret high tech lab in some random warehouse run by international criminals. Who were apparently trafficking sentient aliens across U.S. borders, but we just swept in with like fifteen people and wiped them out. And now, we’re driving the aliens off to alien daycare in our private jet that looks like something you would find in Tony Stark’s garage. That’s what happened, right?”

“You were considering turning down the job.” Grant said, smirking. “I had to show you something convincing. And they’re not aliens, not really. But you’re not going to get to hear about that until a few security clearance levels from now.” 

Skye looked a little dismayed but didn’t ask any more questions. She did watch the ragtag procession of the rescued with fascination as they filed onto the plane. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

They had been back in the car for a few hours and Skye hadn’t been talking much. First she had examined and reexamined every detail she remembered about the Inhumans, frustrated at how limited her knowledge was. But now, the two dead security guards were in the forefront of her mind. The memory played over and over- the way they had stopped in their tracks, the boneless motion of them falling to the floor, the sheer volume of blood that had seeped out of them, and how sticky it had been when the prisoners tracked it up the stairs. The images conjured a mix of nauseous horror and morbid curiosity from Skye. She had seen and sustained a lot of injuries in her time, but had never witnessed something like that.

And overlaid across the whole experience was Grant with a gun, Grant who was in and of himself a deadly weapon. The way she felt about him was a confused mess of fear and… other things. Unbidden, she remembered him pinning her to the wall that first night, and shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She leaned her forehead against the window, watching his reflection idly tap its fingers on the steering wheel along with the song on the radio.

“How many people have you killed?” Skye asked, abruptly.

“What?” Grant blinked in surprise. “That’s, uh, sudden.”

“I was just thinking about those two guards back there- I mean, you saved my life, I guess, and it wasn’t like they weren’t running at you with guns when you shot them. But you just stepped over the bodies. Like it was nothing out of the ordinary.” Skye looked at him out of the corner of her eye and then quickly away, hands knotted tightly in her lap. 

“I don’t know.” Grant answered eventually. “I know there’s a confirmed kill stat in a file on me somewhere, but the real number is probably higher. I don’t- I wouldn’t say I want to do it, but it is my job.”

“And you’re good at your job.” Skye finished. “Yeah, you’ve said. I guess the main thing I’m concerned about is; would that be my job? This was- it was fascinating, but I’m not cut out for… that.” 

“No, I don’t think so.” Grant said, with tension in his voice. “I’m a specialist.” 

“A specialist in what?” Skye pressed. 

“Well, I’m a field operative. Specializing in espionage and interrogations.” He shrugged. “Somebody’s got to do it.” He glanced over at her. “I’m glad it’s not you.” 

Skye leaned her head against the window again, and thought about the fact that he had saved her life. 

When Skye got out of the shower that night, her feelings about Grant were a quickly receding edge of fear and a growing mess of other things. She found him sitting at the table in their hotel room, cleaning his handgun. As she finished combing through her damp hair, she made her way over and watched him curiously. He glanced up at her and smiled.

“Come here, I’ll show you how to put it back together.” He said, and she moved to his side of the table. He reached around her to collect a piece of the gun, and his arm brushed her hip. 

“You’re going to take this, it’s the slide.” He handed it to her. “First you put the barrel in- that’s this- then the recoil spring, and then you’re going to put the whole thing onto this “ He covered her hands with his, guiding the slide onto the rails of the frame. She was still between his arms, and had ended up close enough that her knee was brushing his leg. Acting before she had a chance to regret it, Skye sat on his lap. 

If Grant was surprised, he did an admirable job of not showing it. Hands perfectly steady, he took the gun from Skye and set it on the table. Then he trailed his fingers over her shoulder and down her arm. Skye shivered. 

“Interesting.” Grant said. One of his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, so she was pressed snugly against his chest. His other hand softly brushed her cheek. Then he wrapped it around her throat, forcing her head back against his shoulder. Startled, Skye let out a shaky gasp and her hand scrabbled uselessly at his elbow. She could breathe, but his grip was unyielding. 

“Shh.” Grant whispered right by her ear. “Is this what you want?” He stroked her thigh, fingers slipping under the hem of her shorts. 

Skye could feel her heart pounding, and heat was pooling in her stomach. It wasn’t like she hadn’t always been excited by risk- it was just that hooking up with her kidnapper who had killed two people in front of her less than six hours earlier was a somewhat higher level of stupid than she would usually endorse. But a lot of her blood supply was no longer heading to her brain, and a lot of her brain was telling her that she should be doing what he wanted. So after a few deep breaths she relaxed into his hold. 

“Yes.” Skye answered, voice rough. The approving way he hummed into her ear made her feel safe. She was being good. 

“You can stop me if you need to. You don’t have to do anything. I don’t want to coerce you.” Grant told her seriously. “Do you understand?”

“I understand, sir.” She said with a little smile. 

As soon as the words left Skye’s mouth, Grant was kissing her. The hand that had been on her neck was now cupping her jaw, gently. The other one was spreading her thighs. She stayed where he put her. She was well aware that underneath the gentleness was steel. She could see the gun on the table when she pulled away, and it made her stomach do somersaults. 

His fingers slipped into her hair at the top of her neck and pulled her sharply back into the kiss. His tongue was in her mouth, fierce and demanding. Skye let herself get lost in it.

“Get on the bed.” He whispered, after what could have been minutes or hours for all Skye knew. She was on her feet before she had consciously acknowledged the order. As she perched on the edge of the mattress, Ward stood up and pulled his shirt over his head. He was astonishingly beautiful, if she was being honest, and the movement of his sharply defined muscles was mesmerizing. 

Smiling slightly, he walked over to join her, meeting her eyes the entire time. He kissed her once more before grabbing her hips and throwing her back onto the pillows. 

“Clothes, off.” He demanded, voice low and gravelly. 

Skye hurriedly stripped off her shirt and her bra. When she hesitated, fingers toying with the waistband of her shorts, Grant remained silent but raised an eyebrow at her expectantly. She pulled them off too, dropping them over the edge of the bed. Feeling uncomfortably exposed under his focused gaze, Skye reached out one hand to beckon him closer. 

Finally, Grant shifted towards her. He took Skye’s hand in his and brushed his lips lightly across her knuckles with a smirk. 

Then, before she knew what was happening, she was flat on her back underneath him. A hand in her hair wrenched her head sideways, and his mouth was on her neck. He bit down hard at the join of her neck and shoulder, and sucked to darken the bruise. Skye writhed, and her hands came up to clutch at his back. The dull ache made her moan, quietly. She was pretty sure she was digging her fingernails into him, but he didn’t seem to mind. Pressing his thigh between her legs, he bit her again, a little below her collarbone. The rough friction of his jeans against her was uncomfortable, but not enough to stop her grinding down against him. 

Skye was so caught up in the heady feeling of helplessness that it took her a moment to respond when he kissed her. She was still gasping for breath and preoccupied with the warm buzzing sensation underneath her skin. When Grant pulled away from her, she involuntarily arched up to follow him. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he planted one hand on her sternum and pushed her down.

“Stay.” He said, and stay she did. Although nothing was going to stop her turning her head to get a better view as he moved to the edge of the bed, shoving off his jeans and rummaging in his wallet for a condom. 

“Alright.” Grant smiled over his shoulder and crooked a finger at her. “Heel, girl.”

Affronted, Skye scrunched her nose at him and stayed put, only to squeak embarrassingly when he grabbed her ankle and dragged her closer. Her desire to resist waned as she watched him roll the condom down his cock and stroke it, slowly. She sat up and straddled him. His cock was trapped between them, and his eyes fluttered closed with a sigh when Skye rolled her hips. Delicately, he traced the curve of her bottom lip with his thumb and then slid two fingers into her mouth. Skye sucked softly, intensely aware of the rasp of his callouses on her lips and the way his breath hitched when she tongued his fingertips.

His expression was intently focused as he removed his fingers and reached down between her legs. The angle was awkward, but he slid his other arm under her ass and easily lifted her up. When he curled his fingers to rub against her G spot, she fell forward, gasping, and clung to him desperately. 

Her thighs were twitching and she was moaning on every exhale by the time he pulled his fingers out of her. In one smooth movement, he hitched her up a little higher and guided her down onto his cock. Grabbing the back of her neck, he pulled her away from him so he could lean down and mouth her nipple, biting gently and then soothing it with his tongue. Skye rocked her hips, hard, grinding her clit against his pubic bone. 

Barely a minute later she was coming, trying and failing to muffle her scream by biting her lip. She might have tasted blood, but any concern for that was lost in the blinding waves of pleasure. Grant rolled them over gracefully, hitching her right leg over his shoulder and thrusting into her hard and deep while the overstimulation still had her whimpering. She tried to wrap her other leg around him but the aftershocks had left her muscles weak and trembling. She came again, long and drawn out from the head of his cock dragging across her g spot. Moments later, he muffled a groan by sinking his teeth into the muscle of her shoulder, slammed into her hard one last time, and followed her over the edge. 

They were both sticky with sweat, but she still scooted shyly over to him after he had discarded the condom and tangled their legs together, stroking her fingers through his damp hair. He brushed her cheek with the back of his knuckles and kissed her lightly on the forehead. 

“Have fun?” He asked, and for some reason he seemed a lot less intimidating naked and grinning at her. 

“I’m not saying I’m going to sell out to the evil government organization because the sex is so good, I’m just saying I might have considered it for a while there.” Skye told him seriously. 

“You just had to slip an insult in there, didn’t you.” Grant rolled his eyes, but pulled her closer so she could rest her head on his chest all the same. 

Skye fell asleep quickly, but Grant didn’t. Falling asleep in that kind of intense physical contact with someone was putting himself in a vulnerable situation. It clashed with his training enough that the very idea made him feel trapped and uncomfortable. Eventually, he fell into a light doze, but was startled awake every time Skye shifted in her sleep. He was hardly annoyed, though, because Skye was starting to trust him and that meant he was doing his job.


End file.
